[Talk-GB] Bulk railway station changes

[Chris Hill]

On 16/05/12 04:35, AJ Ashton wrote:
> Hi Richard&  everyone,
>
> This started off simply as an effort to improve our display London
> Underground stations using existing OSM data, but was scope-creeped
> into much more and apparently we messed up.
>
> We've found that the lack of familiar London Underground and National
> Rail icons is a particularly strong sticking point with people who
> would otherwise happily switch to OSM, which is partly why we chose to
> focus on it. The tagging for stations is not so consistent, and my
> blog post goes into details about how we attempt to account for this
> as much as possible at the import&  rendering stages. However certain
> inconsistencies seemed simple enough to just fix in OSM.
>
> We saw network=National Rail tags already in use at various stations
> and didn't think continuing to use them would be an issue. The
> imports/mechanical edits policies didn't come to my mind because we
> started with just a handful of edits. Even though this obviously ended
> up turning into many more, I thought that things were being done quite
> manually and carefully. There were no scripts or bots used, but the
> error the Craig points out looks like the result of a very bulk and
> incorrect copy/paste (or something) so clearly there were problems
> here.
>
>> ... something that might seem simple
>> from afar actually turns out to be a bit more nuanced, but by giving careful
>> consideration to the nuances, we're making what is hands-down the best map
>> of the world. I hope we can have a similarly useful conversation about the
>> stations too.
> I guess our excitement to make awesome maps tripped us up here.
> Richard pointed out specifically that 'the "network=National Rail" tag
> is of debatable value and relevance'. I'm curious about the details of
> why.
>
> We just went with what seemed to be an established tagging system (but
> I guess is actually not). I am interested to hear tagging ideas that
> would be both correct and useful for rendering a map with appropriate
> icon styles.
>
>
I think talking to local mappers before making remote changes over a 
whole country is not just a good idea, but should be mandatory and 
failure to do so should routinely be met with a revert.

I accept that your motives were good.

The railways in the UK are a mix of nationalised and private companies 
who operate train services on tracks they don't own, using stations they 
might operate or might not, who sometimes get represented publicly by a 
company who doesn't run trains, operate stations or own any track. Some 
bigger stations are operated by the national track operator but most are 
operated by train operators, even though other train operators will 
often share the station too. In some cites there are added complications 
of underground, light rail and trams. In addition there are privately 
owned and run heritage lines, some of which provide local commuter 
services as well as tourist services.

You could use the well-established operator tag to help to distinguish 
the stations. It would take research to find them all and there will be 
a longish list to wade through for rendering. Maybe some UK mappers 
could help you with their local stations.

-- 
Cheers, Chris
user: chillly